US citizen/Intl applicant

Answered

Hi,

When you apply to college in the US, you will not be considered an Int'l student but a US Citizen. The reason the admissions counselor stated that you will be considered an out of state resident where ever you apply is that all State University systems like Michigan State, University of California schools, University of Florida schools have a very specific residency requirement that you have to fulfill like being a full-time resident in the state for 1 full calendar year prior to being accepted (for some it's 1 full year prior to the applications deadline). This only applies to public state colleges versus private universities that only have 2 categories- Domestic and Int'l for incoming Freshmen. Since I imagine you do not fulfill this requirement, you will be out-of-state for a school like UCLA, UVA, or Univ of Washington.

On the common app and coalition app and on the private app portals (Georgetown, MIT), under the demographic section of the application, you click off the tick boxes that apply to you like US Citizen, Permanent Resident, DACA, Int'l, Dual Citizenship (and they ask what the 2nd country is). So they will know exactly your situation.

Since you have been living abroad for 10 years, you have to check with each school you are applying to, and find out if you need to take the TOEFL or IELTS. The harder schools recommend a score of 100 or 7.5 respectively. Some schools accept Duolingo but not so common with top schools. Also, I believe the TOEFL has a home edition now you can take at home rather than at a test center. Some schools want you to this if the language of your secondary school instruction was not in English, or if you have been abroad for more than 3 years. The requirements vary so be sure to get them from each school you are applying to.

https://www.ets.org/toefl/test-takers/

https://www.ielts.org/en-us/book-a-test/find-a-test-location

Since you are not an Int'l student applicant, financial aid will be more or less considered like you were a domestic applicant. Therefore, you should feel free to apply for financial aid if you need to. The FAFSA and CSS Profile is required by most colleges. Some schools like Princeton and UChicago have their own version of the CSS profile so keep that in mind. Since your parents are Americans or at least one of them is American, I imagine the only headache will be for them to submit their financial records to the "college board" who operates the CSS Profile. They will have to upload their US Tax forms there if they file US taxes or upload their taxes from the country you live in. These will be questions the Collegeboard can answer for you when you file your CSS Profile. So if you need financial aid, then look on the list of colleges that are need-blind versus need-aware because they will decide to accept you without considering your ability to pay. Also, look for colleges that meet 100% of your financial aid needs based on your family's ability to pay. Many colleges are both need-blind and meet 100% of need. They are not the same thing so be mindful of that.

https://www.cappex.com/articles/match-fit/need-blind-admission-colleges

https://www.edmit.me/blog/need-blind-vs-need-aware-colleges

Since it's only 1 week away from Nov.1, I do not think you can get all these things done to apply Early Action or Early Decision but you will be okay to apply Regular Decision Jan.1.

Best of luck in your college admissions journey.